Christmas Cookies
by chyron girl
Summary: Emma and Clay have to bake for a Christmas party.


**Authors note: **Just a little Christmas fluff for you. This takes place in the More Than Friends universe. Merry Christmas all! 

* * *

Emma woke up early on the first day of her winter break. She lay there quietly in bed not wanting to wake Clay. He had only returned a few days ago from a three-month deployment in Afghanistan with the rest of Bravo team. The guys had deployed two weeks after she returned to New York for her second year at NYU. Emma had found it to be a very long semester. As much as she loved her program at Tisch, not being able to even come back to Virginia for a weekend to see Clay had been really hard.

She had been so excited yesterday when she saw Clay waiting at the airport for her when she arrived home. She had thrown herself into his arms and practically knocked him down. Everyone in arrivals had been treated to a serious public display of affection as they kissed for the first time in over three months.

From the airport they went to meet her Dad for dinner. Over the summer she had made an effort to keep any displays of affection with Clay to a minimum in front of her Dad as she knew he was still adjusting to the idea of her and Clay together, but all evening she could hardly stop holding on to Clay. She held his hand or leaned against him, and her father finally told her to let Clay eat his dinner. Actually, her father had referred to Clay as "the poor boy." But Clay just laughed, gave her a kiss, and said he had missed her too. In front of her father!

She found it hard to believe that she was back in Virginia Beach and staying with Clay for her entire break. She still remembered her shock when her father had agreed to her spending Christmas and her break from NYU with Clay. Of course, it wasn't as if her father had any place for her to stay in his tiny apartment. Mikey was okay sleeping on an air mattress at the apartment for his Christmas break, but Emma's break was much longer. Classes at NYU wouldn't be starting up again until after Martin Luther King Day.

The best part, Emma thought, was that after their deployment the team was on block leave for three weeks, which meant that for most of her break Clay would definitely not be spun up for a mission. She and Clay had discussed maybe going somewhere warm for at least a long weekend during that time, but first they had Christmas to celebrate.

Tonight, Aunt Naima and Uncle Ray were having a Christmas party for the entire team, including the support staff and everyone's families. Clay had told Aunt Naima that they would bring a dessert and beer to the party. He had already bought the beer. Emma believed it was some kind of microbrew that was meant to annoy Uncle Sonny. But they needed to make some kind of dessert. She told Clay she expected him to help make said dessert. The look on his face when she told him that had been priceless.

Last night she had asked her Dad if it would be okay for her to go to the storage unit and get their stand mixer and some other items for baking. He had said that was fine. She had debated asking to take some Christmas decorations as well, but then decided she wasn't quite ready to see all their old decorations that they had hung with her Mom.

This was the first year since her Mom died that she even felt like celebrating Christmas. The first year was terrible and all she had wanted to do was pretend the holiday wasn't happening. Then last year she, her Dad, and Mikey had gone to her grandmother's in Pennsylvania for a few days and then she had gone back to New York to do a winter break program at school.

This year was going to be different. She, Clay, her Dad, and Mikey were going to spend Christmas Day with Aunt Naima, Uncle Ray, Jameelah, and RJ. She and Clay were going to put up a tree and exchange gifts and bake and shop and just be happy. She couldn't wait.

This morning they would go by the storage unit and pick up the things she needed there, then they would go to the grocery store to buy food for themselves and ingredients for whatever dessert they were going to make. This afternoon they would bake their dessert. Then tonight they would go to the party, and maybe in between the baking and the party they could take a nap together.

Emma had an idea for what they should make for a dessert. There were some chocolate cookies with marshmallow frosting that her Dad and Mikey loved. They weren't too difficult to make, and she could double the recipe to make a lot of them. There were going to be a lot of people at the party.

As she lay there thinking about Christmas and desserts, Emma heard Clay make a strangled noise in his sleep. She rolled over to look at him. His breathing had become faster and maybe a little strained. She also noticed his legs moving restlessly under the covers.

Emma wanted to reach out and touch Clay to let him know it was just a dream, but she remembered her mother's warnings about surprising her Dad when he was sleeping, that his instinct as a SEAL would be to defend himself even though he was home and safe. Emma didn't want to startle Clay from his sleep, particularly as he had just returned from deployment.

"Clay," she said softly. "It's okay. You're just dreaming."

Clay's breathing was still fast, and he had begun muttering something. Emma couldn't make out what it was, but she thought it was another language.

"Clay," she called again. "It's me, Emma. You're home."

"Emma," Clay said quietly, almost to himself.

"Yes, it's me, Emma," she repeated. "Wake up."

"Emma," Clay said again as his eyes opened. He looked confused for a moment before he realized where he was.

"Hey sleepyhead," Emma said, smiling gently at him. "You were having some kind of a dream there."

"Yeah, a translator, his family was being threatened. He was upset," Clay replied, looking as if he was upset.

"Can I?" Emma asked, as she made a motion as if she were going to lay down against Clay's side.

"Yes," he answered her emphatically, holding his arms out to her.

She immediately moved into his arms and wrapped hers around him. She laid her head on his chest and could feel the thundering of his heart. She lay like that for a while, but then became uncomfortable.

"Here, Clay, let's try this," she suggested, as she sat up and plumped up some of the pillows by the headboard. She lay back on them, so she was reclined on her back, and she tugged on Clay's arm. He rolled over and wrapped his arms around her, lying with his head on her chest. She began stroking his hair.

"Can you tell me anything else?" She asked.

"Not really," Clay replied. "We rescued his family. They're going to be okay."

"That's good," Emma said.

"Yeah," Clay agreed, but didn't say anything else.

Emma continued to stroke Clay's hair as he held on to her tightly. Eventually he dozed off again and then so did she. 

* * *

By ten thirty that morning Emma and Clay had visited the storage unit, picked up the items Emma wanted, and arrived at the grocery store. The store wasn't too crazy yet, but Christmas was still almost a week away.

On their drive Emma had told Clay about the cookies she thought they should make. He thought they sounded good, although he had admitted that he didn't have any idea what else they could make anyway.

They made their way into the store, and Clay grabbed a shopping cart. As they progressed through the aisles, they bickered a little about what items they should buy to have around the apartment for meals. Clay wanted frozen berries with kale to make his morning smoothie, but Emma swore there was no way she was having frozen berries with kale hidden in them in her smoothie.

They reached the baking supplies aisle and Emma worked her way down the shelves selecting the things they would need for the cookies. She went to grab a small bottle of vanilla and stopped.

"Clay, do you still have the vanilla I bought when I made those chocolate chip cookies back in the summer?" She asked.

Clay looked at her. "I guess," he replied. "I haven't used it, so it must still be there."

Emma looked at Clay, looked at the shelf, and then looked at Clay again. Then she grabbed a small container of vanilla and tossed it into the cart.

"Hey!" Clay laughed. "I didn't eat it."

"Uh huh," Emma agreed. "That's everything except the marshmallow creme. Let's grab that and get out of here."

"Okay," Clay agreed, as they headed to the aisle with the marshmallow. "How about we stop and get takeout for lunch on the way home? I'm dying for a taco. I haven't had a good one since we deployed."

Emma smiled. "Sure, I wouldn't mind getting tacos."

They found the marshmallow creme and then headed to the checkout. 

* * *

Once they arrived back at Clay's apartment, it took them a few trips to get all the groceries and the items from storage in from the truck. They put the groceries away and then settled down to eat their lunch.

"Ready to bake cookies?" Emma asked as they finished up their tacos.

"I guess," Clay responded. "I don't know how much of a help I'm going to be. I know nothing about baking."

"Don't worry," Emma assured him. "It's not that hard."

Emma began setting up the stand mixer and getting the ingredients together while Clay cleaned up from their lunch. She then started looking in the cabinets for the bottle of vanilla extract from the summer but couldn't seem to find it.

"So," Emma teased, "sure you didn't eat that bottle of vanilla extract?"

"It's there," Clay insisted. "I didn't do anything with it."

Mmm, hmm," Emma agreed. "Sure."

Clay started searching through the cabinets. "I know it must be here. I haven't even been here for the last three months. How could it be gone?"

"I don't know," Emma said with a laugh, as she pulled the new bottle out. "But I guess you can thank me for saving you a trip back to the grocery store."

Clay shook his head.

"Here," Emma handed him the sugar and pushed the bowl from the stand mixer his way, "measure out a cup of sugar and put it in this bowl. I'll take care of the other dry ingredients."

Following Emma's directions, Clay used the mixer to combine the butter and sugar and then add the egg and milk.

"Okay, now we add the dry ingredients I mixed in this bowl," Emma told him. "Just a little bit at a time."

"Why can't we just dump it in?" Clay asked.

"It will fly up everywhere," Emma answered.

Clay looked at her skeptically. "Really?"

"Really," Emma confirmed. "But if you don't believe me, try putting in more than a little at one time."

Clay grinned and dumped a good amount of the flour, cocoa, baking soda mixture in, then started up the mixer. Emma immediately stepped back as a cloud of the dry ingredients puffed up out of the mixer bowl. The front of Clay's t-shirt was now liberally dusted with flour and cocoa powder.

Emma laughed as she reached up and dusted some of the mixture out of Clay's hair. "Believe me now?" She asked.

Clay laughed. "I guess I should have listened to the expert," he said.

Emma gave him a wicked grin. "Words to live by," she teased.

They finished mixing up the dough and divided it up into balls on the baking sheets. As the cookies baked, they cleaned up the mess from the dry ingredient explosion and washed out the bowl of the stand mixer so they could use it to make the frosting.

"We should wait a little on making the frosting," Emma suggested. "We can't put any frosting on the cookies until they're completely cool. Otherwise it will melt."

"What should we do to pass the time?" Clay asked.

Emma sat down on one of the bar stools. "I don't know," she said innocently. "Do you have any suggestions?"

"I might," Clay stated, as he stepped between Emma's legs.

Clay leaned in and started to kiss Emma. She sighed as she wrapped her arms around him. She had missed this so much while they were apart.

The oven timer dinged, and they broke apart to pull the baked cookies out of the oven and put a new batch in.

Clay stepped up behind Emma and wrapped his arms around her as she stood by the oven. She turned her head towards him and then giggled.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"You smell like cocoa powder," she said as she turned in his arms. "I think you have some on your neck." She nuzzled into his neck and inhaled the smell of cocoa and Clay. She smiled and licked the flavor of the cocoa off his neck.

Clay groaned. "Emma, you're looking for trouble now."

"Mmmm," she replied, "maybe I like trouble."

Clay closed his eyes as Emma continued to kiss his neck. Then he groaned in frustration as Emma pulled away.

"We should probably start the frosting now," she stated with a teasing grin. "The first batch of cookies is almost cool." She smiled at Clay's crestfallen expression.

Emma handed Clay one of the jars of marshmallow creme and kept one for herself. "Here, we need to get all of this out of the jars and into the mixing bowl. It's kind of a pain to do."

They each began scooping the marshmallow out of the jars with a spoon and then had to resort to scraping the spoons with another spoon to get it all in the bowl. They kept scraping until Emma judged that they had as much as possible out of the jars.

She added the butter and vanilla to the marshmallow and set the mixer to blending them. Then she measured out the powdered sugar and handed the measuring cup to Clay.

"Add a little bit at a time, while I adjust the mixer speed," she directed.

Having learned his lesson the first time around, Clay added a small portion of the sugar and then watched it get blended into the mixture in the bowl. The oven timer dinged again, and Emma pulled the baked cookies out. Checking that Clay was still good adding the sugar to the frosting mix, she prepared more raw dough and put it in the oven.

Clay sprinkled the last bit of powdered sugar into the bowl and waited for it to get mixed in. "That's it, Em," he announced.

Emma stopped the mixer and tilted the head back so she could scrape the sides of the bowl. Once she was finished scraping the ingredients down to the bottom, she tilted the head back down and started up the mixer again.

Clay caught her hand in his and licked away some of the frosting that had ended up on her fingers. Initially he had a mischievous look on his face, but then the taste of the frosting registered.

"Wow, Em, this is really good," he exclaimed as his face lit up like a little boy's.

"If you promise to be good," Emma teased, "I'll let you lick the bowl after."

Clay looked up and gave her wolfish grin, losing any childish aspect to his expression. "I promise to be very good," he persuaded, and then sucked her finger into his mouth.

Emma let out a little whimper as she forgot all about the frosting in the mixing bowl.

The oven timer dinged again breaking the heat that arisen between them. Clay released Emma's hand and turned to take the last batch of cookies out of the oven. Emma focused on the mixer as she tried to get control of herself again.

"Okay," she said in a slightly strangled voice, "I think we can start frosting."

Clay gave her a knowing smile as he placed the baking sheets with the final cookies on the stovetop. Emma washed her hands and busied herself with finding the correct pastry tip and putting it into the decorating bag.

"So, we just put the frosting in here," she said as she scooped up spoonfuls of it and dropped it into the bag. "And then you just squeeze some out onto a cookie."

Emma demonstrated with a few cookies as Clay watched.

"Then we can sprinkle some of the colored sugar on top. Sometimes we sprinkled cocoa powder, but I figured since it's Christmas red and green sugar would be prettier." Emma explained.

"That's so cool," Clay stated. "Can I try?"

"Sure," Emma said, and handed him the decorating bag. She started sprinkling sugar on the cookies she had frosted as she watched Clay squeeze frosting onto some more cookies.

Her heart squeezed a little as she saw how he was concentrating on making each one look good. He had that childlike look on his face again as he worked on decorating the cookies. She thought he must have been the most adorable little boy. She couldn't comprehend how his parents had acted as they had. She supposed his mother was just doing the best she could for him, but how could his father have abandoned him like he did? She just didn't understand.

Emma leaned over and kissed Clay on the cheek. He looked up at her and she spoke. "Good job."

He smiled and leaned in and gave her a light kiss on the lips. "This is a lot more fun than I expected," he said. "I have a question though. Why did you use this tip on the bag and not one with the pointy edges?"

"My Mom always used this round one because the frosting is supposed to look like a cloud," Emma replied. "These other ones make the frosting look more like flowers and things. She was really good at decorating," she added wistfully.

"These were all her baking things," Clay stated.

Emma nodded. "Yeah, she really liked to bake. We used to bake together a lot." Emma paused a moment as she remembered how much fun she used to have with her Mom when they baked. "My Dad gave her this stand mixer when they were first married."

Clay put the now empty decorating bag on the counter and turned to Emma. He slid his arms around her in a comforting hug. Emma leaned into him and let out a little sigh.

"My grandmother didn't bake cakes and cookies like this, but she used to make her own bread. I used to help her knead the dough," Clay told her. "I really had fun doing that with her. If I go to a bakery that actually bakes the bread right there, the smell always reminds me of us in her kitchen making bread."

They stood for a moment just holding each other. Then Emma leaned back and kissed Clay gently. "I think this is going to be a great Christmas with you," she said softly.

"I know it is," Clay agreed. He gave Emma squeeze and then spoke again. "If we finish these cookies up soon, we'll have time for a nap before the party."

From the way he waggled his eyebrows at her Emma knew what he meant by "nap." She giggled. "Let me get sprinkling with this sugar then."

Clay smiled and they both set to work finishing up the cookies.


End file.
